Moving-picture machine.



G. W. BINGHAM. MOVING PICTURE MACHINE. APPLICATION IiLED APR. 29, 1912. 1,129,328. Patented Feb .23,1915.

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wi/tweoaeo: anlvenl'oz r I G; W. BINGHAM. MOVING PICTURE MACHINE.

APPLIGATION FILED APR.'29, 1912.

1,129,328; Patented Feb.23,191 5.

s SHEETS-QHBET 2 Patented Feb. 23,1915? 3 SHEETSrSHEET 3 vancing means having spurs, teeth, or other STATES PEN onion snoncn'w; BINGHAM, or BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

MOVING-PICTURE MACHINE.

Specification'of Letters Patent.

Application filed April 29, 1912. Serial No. 693,787.

To 21 whom it mag concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE VV. B1NG- HAM, a citizen of the United States,and I resident ofBrooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in .Moving-Picture Machines, of which the following is a specification.

In the ordinary forms of moving picture machines, whether they be cameras or pro- ]ectors, it iscustomary to employ film adprojections' by'which the said film advancmg means engages with perforations-along the edges ofthe filmflto insure the proper advancement of the film and the keeping of the pictures on the latter in registry with the, exposure opening. After a film has been run through thep'rojector a large number of times these perforations become enlarged or irregular by wear and the film becomes torn or cracked along the li e of perforations so that there is more or less lost motion between the film and the film sible to obtain asteady picture. Such films eventually have to be discarded as valuelessfirrespectiveof the initial cost of the filmand even ,though the body portlon 1s heaters or rotary feed rollers. The diificulty perforations or thelike on thefilm is due.

with film advancing mechanisms of this kind which do'not engage or register with to the :fact that the length of a strip of film having a definite number of pictures may vary due to uneven shrinkage during drying or the expansion or contraction of the film with variations in temperature or hu-.

midity conditions or from other causes. A shrinkage of one half inch in 100 ft. of film wouldnot be noticeableinany one picture, but during the run of the film through the machine the picture, would advancing meansv and it is no longer pos-- still perfect. In order to obviate this ob-- crawl half way down the screen. This dif- Patented Feb. 23, 1915. l

ficulty is of course not encountered where the film advancing means engages With perforations in the film as'the number of per foratlons per picture remains constant during the shrinking. In order to accommodate the machme to varying condltlons of "i thefilm and also to permit the advancement-- of successive lengths of film exactly equal to thelength of successive pictures I provide a film advancing means having a" feed member capable of extremely fine adjustment to take care of shrinking or expan- .sion and alsocapable of coarse adjustment to either frame the picture or accommodate the machine to pictures taken in different kinds of cameras and producing difi'eren't numbers of exposures'per unit length of film. 'For the fine adjustment I preferably employ a feed roller of such a character that its circumference may be varied in elmost infinitesimal amounts. The feed roller is rotated through a predetermined angular distance or through a predetermined numbe of revolutions during each cycle of operation of the machine and thus the amount of film advanced during'each cycle is dependent upon the amount of peripheral sur'- ,face of theieed roller passing a given point. By expanding or contracting the feed roller the film may be fed faster or slower dependent upon whether it has ex-- panded or contracted. T 0 frame the picture without interfering with or interrupting the operation of the machine I provide means whereby the speed of rotationof the feed roller may be changed in respect to that of the operating crank-so as to set the picture ahead and I control this means directly from the cralik. Thus while the operator'is turning the crank and finds that it ismecessary to alter the position of the picture on thefilm .in respect to the exposure opening, he may bring my improved mechanism into operation and properly frame the picture While continuing to turn the crank and with the same hand that turns the crank. This'feature of my improved device is useful not only in taking care of faulty piecing together of film sections but also in adjusting the machine to receive films taken on a different kind of a camera and having a radically different number of pictures? per unit length of film. By changing the speed of rotation of ihe feed rollerin respect to the-speed of rota tion of thelbrank and by changing the size of the speed roller, the machine may be adjusted to take a wide variety of films either with or without perforations, properly present them at the exposure opening, frame the picture and prevent crawling.

. In the accompanyin drawings I have illustrated only one em odiment of my invention but have not illustrated various details of the projecting machine which do not directly relate to the film advancing mechanism. It is evident that a wide variety of changes may be made in the arrangement of parts, details of construction 15 and character of the mechanism shown for carrying out my invention, without departmg from the spirit or scope thereof. In thesedrawings similar reference characters inclicfite corresponding parts in the several views. ,5 g

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a machine constructed in accordance with my invent1qn,'aFportion thereof being shown in section. 1g. 2 is an elevation ("if the opposite side of the machine. Fig. 3 is a transverse section; on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1 and Figs.- 4, 5 and 6 are sectional details on the lines 4-4, 5+5, and 66 respectively of Fig. 3.

My invention is equally applicable to cameras or projectors but it is especially useful in machines of the latter class.

The projecting machine which I have illustrated is one havingv a main frame or wall 10 supporting a front wall fore plate 11 with an exposure opening 12. The film comes from any suitable support, not shown,

. and passes first between apair of feed rollers 13 and 14 and then over a roller 15. A gate 16 holds the film against the face plate 11 also drivesthe intermittently operating film advancer and oscillates the shutter 22. The

rollers H and 21*arenot positively driven but are mounted on stub shafts carried by pivo ed levers .23 and 24. Suitable springs 25 and 26 enga c with these levers and resiliently hold t e two rollers of each pair together so that therollers 14 and 21 are rotated from frictional contact "with the other -rollers 13 and 20.- These last mentioned rollers are positively driven upon the turnin ofa crank 27 and bya gearing which .wil be hereinafter pointed out;

tu'dina-lly movable the outer shaft and the inner shaft is The machine so far as I have describedit in detail does not constitute any-"pprtienef' my present invention as it follows in a genthat I have merely illustrated this machine V as one type to which my invention may be applied and that I am not limite to any details of that machine or the co bination of parts there disclosed exce t as efined in the claims hereinafter ma e.

As reviously stated one im ture o my invention involves mechanism whereby one or more of the feed rollers may be rotated at a pluralit of different 5 s in respect to the spe of rotation o the crank and in Fig. 3 I have illustrated the details of one mechanism which may be employed. This mechanism includes a shaft. 28 concentric with a hollowshaft orvsleeve 29 journaled in a bearin "30. The inner shaft 28'projects beyond e outer shaft 29 at both ends and one end carries a wheel 31 having ratchet teeth 32 on one face. At the oppositeend, the inner shaft carries e large gear 33 closely adjacent to, and differing slightly min feain size from, a. gear 34 carried on the ad acent end of the outer shaft 29. Ads-1 jacent to the ratchet wheel the outer shaft 29 carries the crank 27 previously referred to. Preferably the crank has e sleeve 35 which fits loosely on the hollow shaft 29 and the end of this sleeve is provided with teeth 36 for engaging in corresponding teeth "on the end or a collar 37 rigidly fastened on the outer shaft. The collar and gear 3-1 may serve to hold the outer shaft against lon s tudinal movement in the bearing? and t e wheel 31 may serve to hold the cove 35 in place. I have illustrated a spring catch 38 within the shaft 28 and engaging with the outer side of the wheel 81 to retain the latter and prevent it from rotating in res t to the shaft 28. By pressin this catch iametrically the gear 31 may loosened and removed and this will permit the removal of the crank 27. The crank, carries e'handle 39 at its outer end upon'which there is a longi v rip 40. The grip carries a pin 41, the ead of which projects throu h the crank into engagement with one end 0. a lever 42 ivoted on the crank and extending lengthwise thereof, Theopposite end of the lever constitutes a dog 43 which projects through the crank toward the ratchet teeth'32. Aspring normally holds the dog 43-out of enga ement with the teeth 32 but by ushingen wise on the grip 40 of thexhan Ie the dog may be forced into engagement with said teeth so that the two shafts 28 and 29 can be compelled to rotate I I at the same speed. With the in its normal position the power is app 1e 'onlfy to me.

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desired speed. soJhat the slower speed of the feed roller The feed roller 20 is mounted on a shaft which at one end has a gear 15 meshing with the gear 33. The shaft 1 1: is concentric with and mounted in an outer shaft 4:6 which carries a gearwl'l meshing with the gear 34. on the outer shaft 29. Suitable means are provided whereby the rotation of the outer shaft all") in one direction causes the rotation of the inner shaft 44: in the same direction but whereby the innen shaft may be rotated faster than the outer shaft if desired. This means may assume the form illustrated in Fig. i and may include a ratchet wheel 48 -on the shaft 4 1 and a concentric wheel 4E9 having spring pressed dogs 50 engaging both the ratchet teeth. The operation of this portion of the mechanism is substan-- tially as follows: With the parts in their normal position the dog 13 is out of engagement with the ratchet teeth 32 and the rotation of the crank serves to rotate the feed roller 20 through the gears 3+l and 4-7 and through the spring pressed dogs 50. It will be noted that the two shafts 4A and 46 will now rotate together and that the shaft 28 will rotate at a slower rate than the shaft 29 due to the difference in size of the gears 33.

a 1d 3 1 and their .intermeshing gears 45 and 47.- W1en 1 "is desired to advance the film at affaster rate of speed in order to frame the picture or because the pictures on the film are of greater length orfor any other reason I may press endwise on the grip and thus lock the tn 0 shafts 28 and 29 together. Now the shaft 14; will be caused to rotate at a higher speed than the shaft 46; and the speed of the feed roller 20 will be increased by the slipping of the ratchet wheel l8, past the dogs 50. It will thus be seen that by turning the crank at. a given speed the feed roller may be driven at any one of plurality of different speeds. It is obvious that it would be a mere reversal and within the scope of my invention 'to make the normal position of the parts such that the film would travel at its higher speed and by moving the grip, b 'i-ng gearing into operation which would reduce the speed of the feed roller rather than increase it as shown. It is also obvious that additional sets of gearing might be provided so as to give a third or even a fourth distinct speed for the feed 'olle-.r. This could also be accomplished by replacing the gears and 15 by di il'crcnt pairs which would [give the feed roller the If the machine be adjusted prhduces the normal film advancement for each cycle of operations and the picture needs to .')e framed o'r properly positioned on the screen, the driving of the feed'roller at the higher speed will make the picture :rawl very rapidly until it reaches the desired )osition. Theframing of the picture may tius beaccomplished by the operator without necessitating interrupting the machine and without the removal of his hand from the crank. It. is evident that other mechanisms wouldreadily suggest themselves to those skilled in the art and by which the same results might be'secured. I consider all such mechanisms being within the scope of my invention whichycontcmplates the normal advancement as well as the framing of the pictureby the use of a single crank or other driving member. I have shown this feature of my invention applied only to the feed roller 20 but it is evident that two sets of gears may transmit the a two different speeds to the feed roller 13 if desired. In practice this is not ordinarily necessary and I have shown only a single gear'51 meshing with the gear 34 and with a gear 52 upon the shaft of the roller 13 so as to drive the roller 13 at the same sp: id as the normal speed of the roller 20. The e is a certain amount of slack film between- 'ie roller 13 and the exposure opening and it is of no consequence if this amount slightly increases or decreases during the run of a film, Preferably the roller 13 has a ratchet and dog drive so that the film and roller may be set ahead if there is too'little slack. Also the film may slip b tween the first pair of rollers when it is being advanced at the higher speed by the second'p'air and there 1s ilOSlflCk. The shaft l-Gma have a gear 53 connected thereto and this may drive a pinion on a shaffiiil carrying a crank disk "5 and a fly wheel 56. The crank diskmay be connected by a link 57 to the shutter 22' and the flywheel may have a groove 58 receiving a pin or roller' 59 on a link 60 on the rock shaft 18 Thus each revolution of the cycle of operation in synchronism with the normal speed of the feed roller 20. This operating means for the shutter and oscillating film advancer con'stitutesno portion of my present invention as they are substantially identical with the constructionshown in the prior United States Patent983 ,021 above referred to.

With the arrangement of gearingabove referredto it is possible to drive the film at dilferent speeds in respect to-the speed ofv the -rachine but this adjustment is compa rativel y coarse and cannot be used to take care of such slight differences as: may be cai'ls'ed by shrinkage of the film. To take care of this I construct one or some of the feed rollers in such a. manner that even though it be rotating at a constant speed it may operate to advance a slightly greater or loss amount of film during each revolution. A preferred construction is one in which the feed roller 20 is expansible and conti'actible to present circumferenees of greater-or lesserlength. Any suitable means may bc employed for causin the expansion and con traction of the re er but preferably I constructit substantiall as shown in Figs. 3 and5. The body the roller is made 11 5 of a plurality or sections 61 arranged around aIc nefiQ on the shaft {l;i. IIhe sections' and-the cone 'are h'elda ainst rotation in respect'fto the shaft a d. t e sections are held together and covered by a thin sleeve 63 of rubber or other similar material. .A]

screw 64 maybe'employed for ercingthe coneilen gthwiseof .theshaft to sprea the sections apart and increase the circumference of the roller and a spring 67 may be employed .-for holdin the cone against the sorew. The rubber s eeve tends to contract thefroller asthecone' is permitted. to move under the action 'fthe spring. The large number of sections and the thickness of the sleeve "63, insurethe ,presentation of 'a smoothperipheralsurface at all times. The cone may be medevery nearly cylindrical so as to require a considerable lengthwise movement to expand the roller to any appreciable extent or the said screw 64 may have a worm wheel 65 at its outer end for engagement with a worm and a delicate adjustment rendered'possible in this manner.

By an extremely slight variation in the'size '30 of the feed roller 20 the film can be kept in perfect registry even though it has shrunk only a 'verysmall fraction of an inch in its entire length. If the film varies at different points. along this length the operator while turning the crank with one hand and ready for any change in-the film which might require, reframing can with the other hand slightly adjust the size of the feed roller should he notice the slightest crawl of the 10 picture and before the crawl would be perceptible to the audience. 'The soft rubber face of the feed rollergivesa good gripping surface which insures against any slip ping of the film and the capability of both 15 coarse and fine adjustment of the feeding means makes int-possible to run any kind of film irrespective of its worn or shrunken condition and irrespective of the make of camera in which it was taken.

any I have illustrated my expansibletoll in a machine in which the roll rotates; continuously and the intermittent advancement of the film past the ex osure openingis accon i'' plished by an oscil ating member. \Itis of courseevidentlthatthe expansible roll could be used o, egually good purpose i v r other typeso mach nes and particularlythat typ in wh e" fwd-ro ri dtatesmarf mittentlyinsteadof continuously, the extent of each rotation or partial rotation being sufficient to advance the film. one picture As previously pointed outv lily-invention relates solely to thefilm feeding onadvancing mechanism and 'is'not limited to use in the particularmachine illustrated or-Yto'the circling said segments, .a {coi ed movable lengthwise of said roller for spreading-saidsegments apart, a spring withm-Qidlrollei and tending to move'said cone in'fone direc-;- tion, and a screw at the opposite end of. said cone for moving the latter in the opp0Site85 direction. v j" 3. A moving picture machine having a feedroller including a plurality of (liajlly movable segments, a contractible en'- circling said segments, a cone-'- segm'ents apart, a spring within said j roller and-tending to move saidcone in on 1166 tion tocontract the roller, a'hda' sciew 'iat th ege opposite and of said cone for .movi ng-ther-ab latter in the opposite direction to expandthe cone. I r, U r

Signed at New York'cityin the county of- New York' and State ofNew-Xork thibii' day of April, 1912. f '1 GEORGE W. Witnesses: l

G. W. FAIRBANK, FLORENCE .LEYIEN.

. QYeblefl lengthwise of said roller for spreading-said 1 

